Thomas Carlyle, Chartism

Nathan Uglow (Trinity All Saints, Leeds)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Domains

Political Theory

Dates

First circulation or publication 1839

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

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Announcing that “the condition and disposition of the working classes is an ominous matter at the moment”,

Chartism

, published as a pamphlet in December 1839, marks Carlyle's first detailed and direct intervention in contemporary social and political concerns. By his own account, it reflected his personal insights into the true causes of the social distress that he had witnessed at first hand, journeying from London to Scotland earlier that summer. In fact, nobody should have been surprised by the realities of such social distress as late as the summer of 1839, least of all Carlyle, whose close friends John Stuart Mill and Charles Buller, his former tutee, had both been deeply involved in the Chartist crisis all year. But then, taking the form of an extended essay on the harsh…

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1865 words

Citation: Uglow, Nathan. "Chartism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6066, accessed 26 November 2024.]